Redhawk Caldera yes, may i please speak to pizza.

Hoping for Wifi, but all welcome! Going to pretend this happens before they find out about Nightjar! bc timelines are for foolz.

It was late afternoon when Fin excused herself from the day's kid-watch and headed across the territory to visit Wildfire. She took  the long way around the lake in the center of the Caldera to drop by the forest and hunt for a bit. After a couple of hours, she had nothing to show for her efforts but for a deer haunch that she'd dug out from a cache only a few miles North of the Creek where her goddaughter was recovering. At least she'd tried, and truth be told, venison even a few days old was a better meal than fresh squirrel.

Fin strode across the gently sloping ground, scanning the area for @Wildfire. She knew her goddaughter had abandoned the cave the moment she'd been lucid enough to realize she was in it, and Fin had instantly chided herself for sticking the girl in there at all. She knew the girl had hated them ever since she was a child and she'd gotten lost in one. Time had faded the memory, but Fin was determined not to let any others go from now on. Spotting a smear of red upon the yellowing grass, Fin crept towards it quiet as she could. Wildfire was still recovering after all, so Fin wasn't about to interrupt her rest just to chat.

Wildfire didn't mingle much as she focused on her recovery. It was going to be a long, long road, she had come to realize. With so much downtime, she had had quite a few of those: realizations. She had realized her mate and children had chosen to leave her here rather than attempt to take her home. She had realized that she was all right with that; the idea of going anywhere near the caves where the Drakru lived put ice in her bloodstream. She also realized that she wouldn't be going there anytime soon anyway. There was no way she would regain the strength to make the trip before winter came, and then she was very likely stuck here, unless the weather proved unseasonably mild.

All of these realizations made the she-wolf feel nearly as resigned as she had felt while being kept prisoner. At least the wolves here weren't holding her against her will. At least she knew and loved them. At least they were looking after her, keeping her alive and doing everything in their power to make her well again. Wildfire owed them so much. She had more or less abandoned this family for another, yet here they were, welcoming her back with open arms and no questions asked. If Wildfire thought about it too much, her face began to ache.

Fortunately, a welcome distraction arrived to break into Wildfire's slowly swirling thoughts. "Aunt Flea," she said softly, wishing she had the strength to rise and greet Finley with the affection and respect she was owed. Instead, Wildfire's soft black tail tapped on the cool, dry grass beneath her. "Is that for me?" she asked with a bit of a sheepish twitch of her lips. Although she didn't like being a charity case, the she-wolf could not deny that the mere smell of the days-old meat had saliva pooling in her mouth.

*joins in*

While he hadn't consulted Finley on the matter, Elwood was doing almost the exact same thing as his mate. He had spent the afternoon patrolling, and decided to deliver some food to Wildfire before returning to the rendezvous site. He made his way towards Tailfeather Creek with a lean hare hanging from his jaws; he had caught it earlier today and stowed it in a cache for only a few hours, so it was still relatively fresh. A cool fall breeze ruffled the fur on his spine as he trotted along.

He smiled around his quarry when he caught a whiff of Finley and he realized that great minds really did think alike. He rounded a bend in the stream and his mate and niece came into his line of sight, causing his tail to sway behind him. He approached them and dropped his offering in front of Wildfire, then stepped back and licked his lips. "Mind if I crash your party?" he asked as he lowered himself to his haunches.

OMG U JARK

Wildfire's quiet voice indicated that she was indeed awake, so Fin stopped her creeping and trotted over with a wagging tail trialing along behind her. She grinned at the question, but before she could answer, a wild Elwood appeared with his own gift hanging from his jaws. He deposited the rabbit at Wildfire's paws, and - not to be outdone - Fin did the same, setting her own offering right alongside of her mate's and stepping back to look at them both.

"It's all for you," the alpha answered with a smile, "Keep in mind, whichever you choose to eat first will indicate which of us you like better. Me or this show-off over here." She leaned to prod at Elwood's cheek, looking again at the fancy fresh kill he'd brought looking all appetizing beside her ragged, half eaten haunch. She mused for a moment how nice it was to have enough food to give so generously, then gave her goddaughter a doleful, pleading, puppy-eyed stare in an unabashed attempt to sway her.

Before Finley could respond to Wildfire's mostly rhetorical question, Elwood appeared with even more food. They each set down their offerings beside her, then her godmother promptly began to crack jokes. Wildfire was touched by their generosity with their food, their home and their medical supplies, but it was her Aunt Flea's humor that brought a wave of nostalgia crashing over her head. She felt a sudden impulse to burst into tears, though she did her best to resist; she didn't have the energy to spare for an emotional display.

"Thank you both so much, for everything..." Wildfire said, resting one foreleg over the heaps of meat, though she didn't imbibe just yet. She paused for a solid half-minute, chestnut eyes drifting between their two familiar, silvery faces. "I want you to know that as soon as I'm recovered enough, I plan to repay you. In fact, I..." Her throat tightened a bit as she considered her next few words. "I know I'm going to be here a while. I mean, I can barely walk right now. It's going to take months for me to be well enough to make the trip home. But I'll be able to contribute before that, hopefully, while I work on regaining my strength."

Another brief pause ensued, while Wildfire turned things over in her head and decided aloud, "I'll probably send Hux back to Drageda, then humbly request to rejoin your ranks properly in the meantime, if you'll have me..." It would probably be temporary, with Wildfire leaving once more to return home in the spring. But she made no mention of that now. At this point in time, she wasn't sure what the future held. She only knew that she would be living at the caldera indefinitely, and it made sense to make it formal.

Elwood promptly turned towards Finley as she poked his cheek and warned Wildfire to choose wisely between the two offerings of food. He stuck his tongue out and then shifted back to Wildfire with a laugh. She didn't seem to be able to enjoy their humor in her current mental and physical state, so he sobered quickly, though there was still a hint of a small, kind smile on his face as he regarded his niece.

She thanked them profusely for giving her a place to stay during her recovery, and while he appreciated her words, Elwood knew that it couldn't have been any other way. There would likely never come a day when he would turn family away from his borders, no matter the circumstances that brought them back to the caldera. He was happy to host her for as long as she needed, and her offers to repay them were unnecessary but valued.

"We're just glad that you're here and that you're alright," he said, the last semblance of his smile disappearing. "You're already a Redhawk, and you can call yourself that officially for as long as you're here," he added, glancing at Finley as he spoke, although he was fairly certain she would agree.

Wildfire didn't play her game, but Fin was good enough not to pout over it. She watched her goddaughter as she looked between her aunt and uncle with so emotion on her face. She well aware of what her kid had been through while captive of their asshole neighbors, though she tried her best to keep it from her mind as she visited. It sickened her to think of what Wildfire had been through, and she couldn't even imagine how it felt for her to be reminded of it. So, she kept things as light as she could, though it seemed the girl had other ideas.

Wildfire's reasons were sound. Fin couldn't have argued them even if she'd had any desire to do so. Her injuries were extensive, and as much as she did intend to keep her word to Betty and send her niece back to Drageda as soon as possible, her opinion of "possible" was likely far more conservative than theirs. She'd considered already sending someone to Drageda to let them know that Wildfire had awakened. She hadn't considered sending Hux, though. Betty had left him here for a reason, and it struck her that she might not be too pleased if he were to return so soon and without Wildfire.

Elwood spoke first, and Fin found herself smiling and nodding in agreement. The fact of the matter was that she wanted Wildfire to stay for as long as she needed, and if that upset their new friends, that was their problem. "You should come stay at the rendezvous site with us as soon as you're able," she said, "Meaning. As soon as you're able to handle puppies poking and prodding at you and begging you to play and tell them stories at all hours of the day."

Elwood and Finley were so gracious. Wildfire couldn't help but think her own parents wouldn't have been nearly this welcoming, certainly not Fox. Thinking about her parents gave her a mild pang, so she didn't dwell on that thought. She simply shot the two of them another very grateful look.

"The circumstances aren't so great," she said, "but it's good to be back." Wildfire had never thought she would be part of the caldera again. Though she certainly hadn't aspired to it, there was a deep comfort being among her godparents and blood relatives.

"I'd like that, although I'll probably stay a bit secluded for a little while, at least until I regain some of my strength," Wildfire said. It was sorely tempting to go meet those newest puppies right now, though she knew it wasn't a good idea yet. Besides, she probably looked downright scary. "I'll find somewhere not too far, so it's easy to visit."

She licked her lips and shifted, wincing slightly because her whole body simply felt depleted all the time. "Rave says Nightjar's here too, that the band's back together," Wildfire quipped. "He probably won't be very happy to see me, will he?" she added. "He was the one who chased me out back in the day, when he found out I was considering the move to Moonspear," she told them in case they weren't aware.

Elwood couldn't help but smile as Finley invited Wildfire to visit the rendezvous site. It made sense, really; although he understood her desire to be somewhat secluded while she healed, the majority of the pack bedded down among the rendezvous site's rolling hills. There would be ample care for her, and it would perhaps even be easier for Raven to tend to her there. But neither he nor Finley would push her to move until she was ready, and Finley had had a good point in her own invitation; there likely wouldn't be too much rest to be had there with the four active Blackthorn puppies running around.

She mentioned Nightjar, and Elwood nodded, though he stopped his head from bobbing when she asked whether or not her brother would be happy to see her. Nightjar was like Towhee in that way -- they were both fiercely territorial, and protective of their family, as long as their family was in Redhawk Caldera. The minute they left, they no longer possessed the same bond in the eyes of Nightjar and Towhee. It was hard for Elwood to imagine feeling that way towards a Blackthorn or a Redhawk, but he didn't fault them for it. He couldn't speak to how Nightjar would react to seeing Wildfire, though.

"I'm not sure," he said honestly. "But we certainly won't let him chase you out again," he added.

Fin nodded as Wildfire answered her request. The wildlings were not for the faint of heart, and especially not for the physically weakened. They were pretty good at following orders, but to have a new friend and not be permitted to play with it would probably be emotionally distressing for the pups and Finley wasn't willing to inflict such abuse on their poor little hearts. Plus, they probably wouldn't listen to her.

The mention of Nightjar caused a twist in her heart. An off-color joke came to mind immediately about how he would have a hard time seeing anything let alone her. But his absence made her silent, and so she simply let Elwood respond and then was quick to drive the conversation in another direction. "We met your kids, you know," she said, smiling softly, "Your girl looks exactly like you." It occurred to her that it might be a painful topic, but she did want to make sure Wildfire knew that they had been among the party that had come to find her.

Elwood assured her that he wouldn't allow Nightjar to repeat history, then Finley said something that caused a great lump to form in Wildfire's throat. A deep ache passed through her like an invisible wave, making her feel even more decimated than before. She had such mixed emotions about the knowledge that her family—her whole family—had come all this way to look for her, only to leave her here. She tried to see it from their point of view, acknowledge the objective reasoning for it, and yet Wildfire could not separate her emotions or handle the feeling of utter abandonment it engendered.

It didn't help matters that Finley's mention of Blixen triggered a flashback. "Mother!" she heard her growing daughter's voice echo in her head. "C-chit don kom au?" Wildfire remembered thinking the sound of her voice and her touch were heavenly, especially after emerging from that hellhole. She recollected curling toward Blixen's surprisingly grown body even as she lost consciousness, even as the commander's voice boomed in the background...

Shaking her head, Wildfire returned to the present and gazed up at her godparents with wet eyes. Thuringwethil and the kids weren't here now; the Redhawks were, though. "I know," she said very quietly, unable to say anything more on the subject, her feelings on the matter plain as the nose on her face even as her chestnut eyes shifted away into the distance.

The subject changed naturally as Finley mentioned Wildfire's children, and Elwood smiled slightly as he thought of them. Though he hadn't had much of an opportunity to interact with them, it had been easy to see the bond that the little family possessed. And Fin was right -- the little girl did look just like Wildfire, and she favored Fox, too.

He pressed his lips together in sympathy when he realized that Wifi wasn't sharing the same happy emotions. Being away from her mate and children was surely quite difficult; on top of that, she was feeling helpless and was physically unable to travel to see them, even if she wanted to. He shifted his weight, glancing at Finley. They each had their strengths, and this seemed to be a time during which she would excel, maybe with some maternal words of support (or Fin's version of that, anyway).

I'll go ahead and fade since Wiffle is PPC now :D

Finley saw the tears spring to Wildfire's eyes, even as she looked away briefly. Her heart went out to the poor girl, though her mind went straight to Lucy. She had missed so much of her little girl's life, and she still had yet to accept that she was going to miss all of it. In her heart, she knew she never would. Never.

She shared a glance with Elwood before stepping forward to tuck her goddaughter tightly against her chest, planting an affectionate nuzzle upon her temple as she began to offer the girl some comfort. She might be a wife and a mother now, but Wildfire would always be her kid - even if she had never technically been her kid. Peregrine and Fox had been as good as siblings to her, and their children were as good as hers as well. Fin was glad to get to spend some time with her favorite niece (sorry other nieces), even if the circumstances were not the best and even if much of their time together would be spent with her offering the young woman comfort for her sorrows. She'd take what she could get, knowing full well how terrible it felt to not get the chance.